


Coming of Age

by Simone (fvckyourfandoms)



Series: A Thousand Years, a Thousand More [1]
Category: Hannibal (TV), Hannibal Lecter Series - All Media Types
Genre: Age Difference, Anger Management, Anorexia, Depression, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Growing Up Together, Hannibal is super protective, I'm Sorry, Kid Fic, M/M, Pre-Slash, Ratings will change in the next part, Self-Harm, Suicide Attempt, The rest of the series won't be as depressing I promise, This is just an introduction, Will is 3 years younger than Hannibal but they're in the same grade, graphic description of suicide attempt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-04
Updated: 2016-04-04
Packaged: 2018-05-31 03:24:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6453418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fvckyourfandoms/pseuds/Simone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I want to be your friend.” He said casually and looked away. </p><p>Will had never had friends. His parents home schooled him while they were still alive and it wasn’t that important to be around other kids at the time. He didn’t care before, but now the idea didn’t seem so bad when there was someone he wouldn’t mind being around.</p><p>“Okay.” Will said quietly. Hannibal quickly looked back at the younger boy and smiled, brighter this time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Coming of Age

**Author's Note:**

> Hello there darlings! This is my very first fic and I'm really nervous about posting this...
> 
> Just to be clear, this is only an introduction to a full length fic I'm doing so I kinda rushed through this and tried to make it as brief as possible so I could start writing the rest.
> 
> I've had this idea for THE LONGEST though and I'm really excited about finally writing it, it took me a lot to actually work up to it. Leave me any critiques or praises or whatever you want down in the comments, I'll appreciate it! And I mean I will REALLY appreciate it *wink wink* *nudge nudge*
> 
> (See end notes for trigger warnings)

It all started Will’s eighth week of being back at school. 

He remembers the look on Molly’s face everyday before dropping him off at the building; all the distress and worry she tried to hide behind an easy smile and light reassurances that even a six year old Will could see through. 

There were many failed attempts from his 1st grade teachers and even some of the students to try to get him to interact. At an age where it should have been no problem making friends and jumping into activities, Will was at a loss and had no interest in working on it.

It took the teachers eight weeks to finally figure out that Will was way ahead of the class curriculum and decided to move him up. He knows it’s something Molly still brags about to any and everyone; that her precious nephew skipped, not only one but two grades.

Ms. Morin’s third grade class wasn’t much of a change though. It didn’t make Will feel any less uncomfortable than the one before. But he was actually learning this time; not going over basic times tables he could recite effortlessly or having to wait what seemed like forever for the other kids to get through reading passages he himself could finish in seconds. Ms. Morin tried to get him to play and join in with the other kids as well, but like before he would only shy away and sit in far corners of the room or one of the benches on the playground by himself whenever he got the chance.

It was during this eighth week, while sitting by the bookshelf reading another Henry and Mudge book, that Will found a piece of paper lying beside his leg. It wasn’t there when he first sat down but there were a few kids that had come over to grab books. Curious fingers reached down and flipped it over. On the backside of the paper was a drawing of a large dog, almost identical to the one illustrated in the book Will held in his hands. The boy always loved to watch and read stories about the playful creatures, and while the picture wasn’t perfectly drawn he couldn’t help but run his fingers over it in admiration.

“What’s that?” 

WIll jumped back and knocked his head on the bookshelf, startled by the loud voice that came out of nowhere. He looked up to see a girl with long black hair flowing down to the back of her knees and a dark dress with tiny red and blue flowers on it peering down at him. He curled his knees up further and clutched the book to his chest as the girl moved to plop down in front of him. 

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you. My daddy tells me I should stop sneaking up on people so much but I always forget. I did it to our mailman Mr. Robinson the other day while he was giving us a special package and my dad said he could’ve had a heart attack cause’ he’s so old so I should stop before I hurt someone. Too late I guess.” She said giggling softly and pointing to where the other boy was rubbing the knot on the back of his head. Will couldn’t remember ever hearing someone talk so much in his life.

“I’m Beverly. You’re that little kid that got moved up to our grade right? You must be super smart.” She paused to consider him for a second. “Are you an alien?” Will just stared back at her in confusion. “Nevermind you wouldn’t be allowed to tell me anyways. Can I see that?” She held her hand out for the paper Will was still clutching in his other hand. He thought about telling her no, but remembered it wasn’t actually his and gave it to her. 

“Is this supposed to be Mudge? I love him! I have all the books at home. Did you draw this?” Will shook his head and shrugged in reply when she asked who did.

“Oooh a mystery! Hmmmm… The mysterious case of the Mudge drawing.” Beverly took on a thoughtful look and tapped her finger against her chin. “It couldn’t have been Ms. Morin. She tried to draw a cat on the board last week and it looked like a blob with sticks.” She frowned looking a little offended at the memory. “Mr. Savin is good at art stuff but he’s on vacation. And it’s too nice, so none of the other kids could have drawn it... Except-” 

Will startled again when Beverly suddenly gasped, jumped to her feet and ran away with no explanation. He stood up to see where she had gone but then the bell was ringing and Ms. Morin was herding all the students outside. 

He was sitting alone the next morning at school breakfast when he saw Beverly again. She sat down in the chair next to him and stared at the boy for a while with a huge grin bordering on creepy. Right when Will was about to get up and walk away, assuming Beverly was really weird and he probably shouldn’t be talking to her, she finally spoke.

“I know who drew the picture!” Will settled back down and turned to face her, actually curious as to who it was. 

“Hannibal.” Beverly announced with extra flourish. Will heard Ms. Morin call the name out during roll call but never looked up to see who it was. “And guess what Will! Guess what. No you’re not gonna be able to guess it right I’ll just tell you!” She stopped to take a dramatic pause before continuing. “He drew it for you!” 

Will frowned at her in confusion. “Yep! He saw that you liked Henry and Mudge so he made it for you. I think he has a crush on you.” Beverly’s creepy grin came back to full force and Will was even more scared than before. “My mommy said that sometimes boys can like boys and girls can like girls, so he can like you. He even said that he liked your face and that your hair looks like chocolate, so that definitely means he wants you to marry him.” Will’s eyes widened comically and he flushed a deep red. 

“There he is now!” Beverly pointed towards the door of the classroom and Will turned to see for himself. A tall boy with blond, gelled back hair walked into the room and went to sit at one of the tables by himself. He was wearing a gray button up shirt and dark slacks; Will thought he looked like a mini adult.

“He’s kind of mean so everyone’s scared of him, even Ms. Morin. I’m not though!” She stated confidently. “I can get him to talk to me sometimes, but he’s really quiet so that’s almost never. Hey, you guys are a lot alike! Except you’re not scary, you’re too cute. Like a puppy!”

Will flushed and went to throw his trash away. When he turned to go back to the table he caught Hannibal staring at him and moved quickly to sit back down next to Beverly.

After that day Will received more pictures. Drawings of dogs or landscapes or even Will himself. He found them in his folders, his cubby, and sometimes on the papers he worked on for class, all flourished with Hannibal’s name at the bottom and a heart next to it. 

Will was in no way used to people giving him things. He vaguely remembered getting a present or two from his parents on Christmas, and more recently things that he needed from Molly but nothing more, especially not from people who weren’t family. When he found the pictures he looked to see the older boy smiling slightly at him. They were all really nice and Will liked to put them on his bookshelf and keep them in his folders, but it was overwhelming the attention he was receiving from Hannibal, and they’d never even spoken to each other. After a while Will became irritated. He didn’t understand why the older boy felt the need to keep giving him things, even if they were just drawings. 

He got frustrated one day when he found another one in his cubby and immediately crumpled it up and threw it in the trash, making sure Hannibal was watching while he did so.  
The pictures stopped after that, and while Will was relieved, he couldn’t bring himself to throw out any of the ones he already had.

~*~

Two weeks later the class had a big project that all the kids were excited to present. Everyone except for Will. The boy was always shy but it became even worse after the death of his parents. The only person he talked to in over a year was Molly, and even then he said only a few words to her on a good day. 

He envied how easily the other kids went through their presentations, even the nervous ones got theirs done with a little prompting. When Ms. Morin finally called Will to come up the boy found himself glued to his seat. 

“Will sweetie, there’s no need to be scared. You have a fantastic project, I’m sure everyone would love to see it.” Ms. Morin told him gently and a few of the other kids nodded in agreement. Will hunched into himself a little more with everyone’s attention directed towards him. He could barely speak to one person let alone a whole class. He gripped his paper, almost folding it in half, and gave a small shake of his head.

“Come on Will!” “Yeah Will just go!” a few kids started yelling, out of impatience or encouragement Will didn’t know but it just made him feel more uneasy. 

“Will everyone has to do the presentation. It can be as short as you want but you have to say something.”

Will stood up from his seat slowly, every part of his body had begun to tremble. He knew what he wanted to say, only a few sentences at the most, but he couldn’t get any of it out. His breath stuttered and he could feel the prick of tears forming in his eyes. 

Ms. Morin called his name again, sounding concerned, but before she could walk over to him he was already out of the door. He didn’t know where he was running to but only knew he had to get away. He ended up under one of the stairwells, huddled into the corner where no one would be able to see him. He didn’t understand why it was so hard for him to just be normal, to function like all the other kids. In that moment he wanted nothing more than for his parents to be there to comfort him; for his mother to run her fingers through his hair and speak quietly to him in french, for his father to hold him close. He began to cry even harder and breathing became more difficult by the second. 

He was so distracted, panicking and choking on his own tears that he barely noticed anyone coming up to him.

He saw Hannibal’s lips moving, knew there were words coming out, but he couldn’t think past how much he missed his parents, how he would never see them again, never hear his mother-

“Respirer mon cher.” Will startled not only from the words but the hand gently cupping his face. “Tu vas bien?” The younger boy looked up at Hannibal with wide eyes and leaned into his hand, despite not letting anyone touch him for so long, not even Molly. No one had spoken french to him since before the accident and he found himself calming down surprisingly fast because of the words.

Once Will’s breathing was under control and Hannibal was sure he was okay, he let his hand drop from the younger boys’ face and leaned back.

“You understand French?” Hannibal asked after a few moments. WIll realized it was the first time he had ever heard him speak. He had a funny accent.

“Some.” he responded, and was shocked to find he even said anything at all. Hannibal seemed to be too.

They sat there for a while not speaking and Will was surprised to find he didn’t feel uncomfortable around the older boy at all. He was relaxing, quiet, didn’t have to talk or move around every second like most of the other kids. It was different. Then WIll remembered all the pictures Hannibal drew for him, and started to feel bad.

“I’m sorry,” he began quietly, and then spoke up, “for throwing your drawing away.”

Hannibal looked up at him, looking surprised again. “It’s okay,” the older boy smiled softly “It wasn’t that good anyways.”

Will returned the smile tentatively — it felt weird given he hadn’t done it in so long — and ducked his head.

“Why did you make them for me?” He asked and looked up at Hannibal through his curls to see the older boy shrug.

“I want to be your friend.” He said casually and looked away. 

Will had never had friends. His parents home schooled him while they were still alive and it wasn’t that important to be around other kids at the time. He didn’t care before, but now the idea didn’t seem so bad when there was someone he wouldn’t mind being around.

“Okay.” Will said quietly. Hannibal quickly looked back at the younger boy and smiled, brighter this time. 

~*~

Beverly wasn’t lying when she said they were a lot alike.

Will learned that Hannibal’s parents had passed away as well and he now lived with his aunt and uncle in a house not too far from Will’s. They both weren’t comfortable around other people and were very quiet but had no problem speaking to one another. Hannibal was slightly more talkative, but Will, while at first he only said a few words at a time, slowly eased into starting and keeping conversations with the older boy. They talked about painting, dogs, books, which vegetables they hated, what nightmares plagued them at night; any and everything.

They became inseparable.

They walked home together and stayed over each other’s house whenever possible. When Will got scared, or nervous, or uncomfortable Hannibal was there to walk him through it, with whispered reassurances in French and light touches that the younger boy became accustomed to. He found himself sitting closer to Hannibal, holding his hand whenever it was convenient and curling up in bed with him whenever they had sleepovers. 

On Valentine’s Day the kids were supposed to give candy grams out to all their classmates so no one felt left out. Hannibal brought Will a stuffed dog toy and a pack of skittles. 

They were a unit throughout the rest of elementary school, and it was becoming apparent to both Molly and Hannibal’s aunt and uncle, Murasaki and Robert, that neither of them were progressing much in the social department. Hannibal and Will had both been going to therapy since the death of their parents, and when both of their psychiatrists brought to their guardians attention how codependent and unhealthy they believed their relationship to be, they knew something needed to be done. 

Murasaki, Robert and Molly all sat down with the boys one day during the summer before 6th grade. They told Hannibal that he would be going to a local private school for the fall and that Will would be remaining at their previous school; that they could still have playdates on the weekends, but it was better that they had some space from one another. The boys were of course outraged. They yelled and and continued to beg long after they were both at home and their parents already explained that their minds were made.

The next night Hannibal climbed into Will’s bedroom window sporting a book bag filled with clothes and cash. He told Will that they would be running away early the next morning and getting on a train that went as far away from home as possible. Will agreed without hesitation and packed his clothes along with the stuffed animal Hannibal gave him.

The next morning they caught a bus to the local train station and bought two tickets to Boston. Will still doesn’t understand how they, two kids, were even able to get them but somehow they did. They were sitting on one of the benches, their train set to arrive in only 10 minutes, when they heard running and their names being shouted by Molly, Murasaki and Robert.

They were livid, saying how dangerous it was for them to try to leave on their own, how did they even think they would be able to go on with just the two of them. Both boys knew this would be the last straw, that their parents would never allow them to see each other after this, so Hannibal did the last thing he could think to do to throw them off; he started crying.

Murasaki nor Robert had ever seen the boy cry once since they brought him into their home. He was very much to himself, never showing much emotion, of any, but yet… There he was sobbing, choking on his tears, going on about how he just missed his mom and dad and sister, how being around Will was the only thing that could make it better. Will had caught onto playing the pity card and began crying hysterically as well. Molly, Murasaki and Robert all stood in the middle of the train station trying desperately to console their boys, feeling guilty for making them so upset.

They decided that night that they would allow the boys to continue going to school together, both agreeing that the local private school would be best for them. Will felt a little bad for manipulating them but Hannibal could only be happy that he and Will were able to stay together.

~*~

Middle school was when it all went to hell.

It was a new institution, a new curriculum, but neither of the boys were worried. They expected it to be just like elementary school; they would get the best grades in the class, socialize only if it was a part of the grade, and stay as far away from everyone else and as close to each other as possible. Their plan would’ve gone perfectly if it wasn’t for the inevitability of puberty and just how cruel middle school students could be.

Will was an easy target. He was smaller than the other boys, he had soft curly hair, and big blue eyes lined with eyelashes longer and fuller than most of his female classmates. The boys would pull on his hair and call him a girl, push him around in the hallways and send his papers flying everywhere. 

That’s where Hannibal’s issue came in. The older boy was always very stoic and level-headed, right up until the moment someone called Will a name or put their hands on him, then he lost it. It was a regular occurrence; some kid would ‘accidentally’ bump into Will, call him a ‘pussy’, and Hannibal was on them in the next second. Will can’t even remember how many times the older boy was sent to the office for punching some other kids’ teeth in, or ‘accidentally’ bumping them back.

Will could almost physically feel how angry the boy was becoming towards the end of their 7th grade year, how wound up he constantly seemed and knew it wasn’t just because of the other kids. They would sit up at night and Hannibal would rant about society and people and how disgusted he was by it all. And Will would listen, with his head rested on the other boys chest, nodding in all the right places. The younger boy wished he could hate the world as much as Hannibal, that he could invest that emotion externally, that all the hatred and disgust he felt wasn’t toward himself.

It wasn’t until Hannibal took a chunk out of another kids ear that Murasaki and Robert decided he needed serious help. He was given anger management counseling. There, he didn’t talk about how he could sometimes still taste his sister’s remains in his mouth or of how dreamed of bloodshed and maiming the men who took away his family. That he saved for Will. But Will didn’t want to worry the other boy about how he wasn’t able to work up an appetite for almost a week at a time or how he hid Molly’s sewing needles and one of the kitchen knifes under his bed for when he needed a distraction. Hannibal already had enough on his plate.

Eventually, Hannibal got a hold of his temper. If anyone messed with Will he would just wait until no one was around. But Will had only gotten worse. 

It physically hurt to get out of bed most days and Molly’s sewing needles were making more of a regular appearance in his daily routine. He wore baggy clothes and made sure to wear a lot of layers whenever Hannibal spent the night, not wanting the older boy to feel just how small he was becoming or see the tiny marks and cuts covering his thighs and forearms.

It was a Monday. Hannibal was still out of town with his aunt and uncle and wasn’t set to be back until that evening. The days the older boy was absent from school were the hardest. Most of the other kids had backed off after Hannibal’s biting incident, but when the older boy was gone they saw it as an open opportunity. This time they had broken Will’s glasses again, they had been the second pair he had to replace that semester. 

He walked home by himself with slightly blurred vision and hunched shoulders. Molly was working another late shift at the hospital but left a plate in the kitchen covered with aluminum foil. Will threw it in trash like he had every other night. 

He was leaning on the kitchen sink drinking a glass of tap water when he found his gaze transfixed on a jug of Clorox bleach. It wasn’t the first time; he stared at it a lot whenever Molly used it to clean the floors or wash clothes. Molly didn’t keep pills in the house, but he had read up on it, and knew household cleaning products would do just as well.

There wasn’t a grand epiphany or carefully thought out plan that led to Will’s decision. There was only the fatigue of constantly feeling disgusting and worthless, of being made fun of for things he couldn’t help. Molly was always working, Hannibal had his own things to deal with and there weren’t any prescription pills in the house but there was that bottle of Clorox under Will’s bathroom sink and that would have to do.

~*~

It was Hannibal who found him about an hour or two later. The bathroom door was locked but the older boy could hear Will sobbing and vomiting from inside. 

“Will?” The younger boy wanted to, tried to, tell Hannibal to go home, that it was just a stomach virus, that he would be fine, but Hannibal knew there was something wrong in the way the younger boy made pained noises every time he tried to get a word out. Will’s sobbing became hysterical after the older boy began begging him to unlock the door, to ‘just let me help’, and he eventually gave in. Hannibal opened the door to find the younger boy on the ground struggling to sit up and coughing up what he could then see was blood. 

Molly was waiting at the emergency entrance of the hospital when they arrived. Hannibal had called her right after he called the EMTs when Will went unconscious. It was obvious she had been crying but when her nephew was brought in on a stretcher she immediately turned on her nurse mode and began giving orders. 

Will thankfully didn’t have any permanent or truly severe damage but he still had to stay in the hospital for a few weeks recovering and undergoing psych evaluations. Hannibal would visit everyday after school and with Molly’s permission, who assigned herself as Will’s on-call nurse, would curl up in the hospital bed with the younger boy. After a week Will was officially diagnosed with severe depression and anorexia. Molly wasn’t able to come in to change his IV for a few days afterwards without bursting into tears.

Will had been in the hospital for about a month before he was finally released. After Molly found out about the bullying and threatened to sue the school for letting it go on for as long as it had, she was able to negotiate that Will do all his schoolwork from home and still be able to graduate on time. 

A couple of days after Will’s release from the hospital, Hannibal came to visit. Despite the older boy coming to see him nearly everyday since the suicide attempt, he hadn’t said a word to him that entire month. Whenever Will tried to start a conversation he would walk out of the room without a response.

Hannibal went to sit in the living room and waited for Will to settle in the chair across from him. For a while the older boy said nothing, just sat and stared down at the space of carpet in between them. After what felt like forever, he finally looked up and met Will’s eyes. For as long as Will knew Hannibal he had never seen him look as hurt and helpless as he did in that moment. He wasn’t crying but it was close enough that it brought tears to the younger boy’s eyes.

“Don’t ever do something like that again,” was all Hannibal said, but it had Will breaking down immediately and climbing into the other boys arms, promising he wouldn’t ever, not again, in between choking sobs. Hannibal pulled out the knife and needles Will had been using on himself and told him that for every time Will marked himself again, he would do the same to his own body. It was more than enough to get him to stop.

~*~

For the remainder of his 8th grade year and the summer before high school, Will attended therapy and a nutritionist regularly. He was gaining some of his weight back and his anti-depressants were gradually improving his mood, but Will knew it would take a while for him to truly recover and even then he would most likely be fighting with his illness for the rest of his life. Hannibal was even starting to get a solid grip on his anger management, but neither of their social skills had improved much.

Hannibal took high school as a platform to change that. He knew it would be harsh for the two of them given the kind of social environment and hierarchy they would be facing combined with their issues and hostility. So he did the only thing he could think to get them through it all; he climbed the ladder. 

They were only freshmen but he still found a way to gradually incorporate them into the top ranks of the student body. He observed the kind of people who were considered popular but he didn’t try to morph himself into replicas of them, he adapted. A lot of the other students were already intrigued by Hannibal’s unique accent and expensive clothes and he used that to put on the perfect facade of Social Butterfly. He left the standoffish, cold Hannibal behind closed doors and introduced the Hannibal who made friends as easily as he took breaths and joined every school club he could fit into his schedule. 

The swim team was the most important and successful group of the school, and Hannibal managed to snag himself the title of Team Captain by their Junior year. Will wasn’t as interested in climbing the ranks as Hannibal was, but he didn’t need to when his best friend was one of the most popular boys in school. 

Despite the entire student body’s love for Hannibal and his high reign in their social hierarchy, it was mainly just a facade. His dislike of people didn’t lessen so much as he was just able to learn how to tolerate and coexist with them. The only person he actually cared for and was his true self around was Will. But they only had to face one more year of the shallow, shit show of a popularity contest that was high school. They had made it this far, they were bound to make it through the rest.

**Author's Note:**

> So there's the introduction to my sweet precious broken children. Senior year is gonna take a serious toll on their relationship, let me tell ya.
> 
> Oh also, I am in desperate need of a Beta, so if any one wants to volunteer as tribute, or if you just wanna fangirl over any and everything with me, hit me up on [my tumblr](http://fvckyourfandoms.tumblr.com) ;)
> 
> TRIGGER WARNINGS:  
> self harm is mentioned, theres a suicide attempt I tried not to get too graphic with but it's still pretty graphic, mentions of an eating disorder and depression, bullying (I promise the rest of the fic WILL NOT be this dark, I just needed to make sure I got their background story across thoroughly)


End file.
